Page 12 —
COLORADO REAL ESTATE JOURNAL
— April 20-May 3, 2016
Office
by Jill Jamieson-Nichols
Mountain Vista, a medical
office/office building in Little-
ton, traded for $4.61 million, or
$151.34 per square foot.
The 30,447-sf building was
constructed in 2000. Located
at 7761 Shaffer Parkway in
Ken Caryl Business Park, it
offers golf course and moun-
tain views, and quick access to
C-470 and U.S. Highway 285.
Mountain Vista Eye Care is
an anchor tenant in the Class
B building, which also houses
HW Holdings Corp., the parent
company of Le Peep Restau-
rants. Edward Jones and other
tenants, all with staggered lease
terms, also occupy space.
The seller was 20-20 Vista
LLC.
“The seller was able to take
advantage of excellent market
conditions with the sale, while
the buyer purchased a premier
asset in the southwest corri-
dor,” said Brian C. Smith, an
associate director in Marcus
& Millichap’s Healthcare Real
Estate Group
and Nation-
al
Office
and Indus-
trial Proper-
ties Group.
Smith and
Lee Black-
burn, also an
i nve s tmen t
specialist in
Marcus & Millichap’s Denver
office, handled both sides of the
transaction.
Phillip Gause, senior direc-
tor with Marcus & Millichap
Capital Corp., also in Denver,
arranged financing for the
property. Gause placed the
financing with a regional bank
that structured a seven-year
fixed-rate loan at 3.7 percent,
amortizing over 25 years. The
loan was underwritten at 76.5
percent of the purchase price
and does not require tenant
improvement, replacement
reserve or leasing commission
escrows.
Other News
n
ProtectWise Inc.,
a cloud-
based network security com-
pany, leased 20,415 square feet
of office space at 1601 Wewatta
St. in Denver.
The company will expand
from an existing, approxi-
mately 6,000-sf Lower Down-
town space, according to
Keith
Krombach
of
Newmark Grubb
Knight Frank,
who represent-
ed the tenant.
Krombach said ProtectWise,
which will have an outdoor
balcony, was attracted to the
building’s design and its loca-
tion next to Denver Union Sta-
tion. “They just really thought
it was a great environment to
work in,” he said.
Chris Phenicie
of
CBRE Inc.
represented the landlord,
HSMPT 1601 Wewatta,
in the
transaction.
n
The
state of Colorado
signed a lease for 14,587 sf of
office space at 14707 E. Second
Ave., Suite GL100, in Aurora.
Mary Jo Cummings
of
API
Sheldon-Gold Realty
repre-
sented the landlord.
Kurt Liss
of
JLL
represented the tenant.
n
Jim Tyler
of
API Sheldon-
Gold
represented
Boesen Law
LLC
in a 10,341-sf lease for office
space at 4100 E. Mississippi
Ave., Suite 1900, in Denver.
Ryan Stout
of
Cushman &
Wakefield
represented the
landlord.
s
Mountain Vista is a multitenant medical office/office building.
Brian C. Smith
T
he commercial real estate
world is similar to many
other professional orga-
nizations in that we perform a
variety of tasks throughout the
day to serve our clients. In the
morning, we may gather for a
team meeting, followed by a cou-
ple hours of focused, heads-down
work. The afternoon may bring a
client meeting or an off-site prop-
erty tour. The truth is the way
people work today has drastically
changed from 20, 10, even five
years ago. Technology has made it
easier than ever before to work on
the go and our cultural mindset
is shifting toward a more flexible
work environment. This has led
to a new evolution in workplace
strategy,which is impacting every-
thing from the size of offices, to
their layouts, design and ameni-
ties.
One of the key considerations
of modern workplace strategy is
the ratio between collaborative
and private workspaces. Over the
years the pendulum has swung
from the lavish private offices of
the 1960s iconized in modern TV
to the cubicle farms of the 1980s
and 1990s. What today’s work-
place strategy experts have real-
ized, however, is that open and
private does not have to be an
either-or decision – it’s really about
empowering employees with the
ability to choose the environment
that best allows them to be pro-
ductive.
In this article we will examine
three facets of the collaborative
versus private workspace discus-
sion – the importance of mobility
and choice, the role technology
plays and the “collision factor”
effective workplace strategy has
the potential to create. To advise
on these factors, we interviewed
Carson Erard and EmilyNeff with
CBRE Workplace Strategies, two
workplace experts consultingwith
some of the country’s most inno-
vative occupiers.
n
The importance of mobility
and choice.
According to Erard,
“Choice empowers employees
to be more productive in their
work. Giving everyone access to
a variety of private and collabora-
tive spaces means employees can
choose the space that works best
for themon any given day for any
number of different tasks.”
For our team, mobility and
choice is critical to our success.
From huddling around a work-
table for two hours in themorning
while we prep for a board presen-
tation to having a private office
for two hours in the afternoon for
a lease negotiation, the ability to
have options helps us maximize
our efficiency
and collabo-
ration on a
daily basis.
Being tethered
to a specific
workspace for
an entire day
is extremely
unproductive
for us.
“It’s really a
cultural shift
away
from
a traditional
office environ-
ment,” said
Neff. “Instead
of
employ-
ees having to
modify how they work according
to the limitations of their space,
now the space is responsive to the
work styles of the employees.”
n
The role technology plays.
Technology is dramatically chang-
ing the way we use space. The
ability to be productive at home,
in a coffee shop or on a plane has
allowed us to accomplish tasks on
the go that were previously only
possible at the office.
“Technology has played a major
role in fostering the workplace
evolution. Today we can work
anywhere, anytime. Mobility is
the new default way of working,”
said Neff.
Technology, and the way it
drives mobility, also promotes
employee wellness.
“Technology affords us the free-
dom to move freely throughout
the day, fueling a focus on well-
being and healthy habits,” said
Erard. “This healthy pivot results
in employees feeling more pro-
ductive, energized and ultimately
more engaged.”
n
The collision factor.
Finally, a
balance between private and col-
laborative workspaces creates a
“collision factor” that can serve as
a catalyst for innovation.
According to Jamie Georgas,
managing director of the occu-
pier business in CBRE’s Chicago
region, in a September 2015 Blue-
print article, “When you’re able to
carve out space for collaboration
and social interaction, you cre-
ate opportunities for people, and
ideas, to collide. You create space
for ‘buzz’ and for business. Often,
the best work comes when you
engagewith a co-worker who you
don’t regularly work with in your
day-to-day activities” (Workplace
According to Neff, “Amenity-
filled workplaces with commu-
nity hubs and social zones provide
opportunities for people to come
together and nourish relationships
that lead to cross-pollinations of
ideas.”
And this spontaneous, cross-
pollination can greatly benefit an
organization.
“These unprompted moments
accelerate connectivity, build com-
munity and foster innovative solu-
tions,” added Erard. “All of which
ultimately drive value for employ-
ees and clients.”
At CBRE, all three aspects of this
discussion are coming into play
as we open a new office in down-
town Denver. Part of CBRE’s
global “Workplace360” workplace
strategy initiative, our new space
is designed to maximize employ-
ee collaboration and productiv-
ity through leading-edge technol-
ogy, strategic use of space and
enhancedmobility.As other CBRE
Workplace360 offices around the
world have already realized, this
initiative not only creates a more
engaging experience for employ-
ees, but it also benefits our clients.
Our clients look to us to
answer their most challenging
real estate questions. Now we
are able to welcome them into
our doors and show them exact-
ly what the next evolution of
workplace looks like.
s
Alex
Hammerstein
Senior vice
president, CBRE
Occupier Advisory &
Transaction Services,
CBRE Technology
& Media Practice,
Denver
erties, which sold the 54,929-
sf building for $8.6 million,
or $156.57 per sf. Centre Point
has owned Denver Tower for
approximately two years.
“This building is just posi-
tioned very well in the mar-
ket,” said Hayman Properties
Director of Acquisitions Jessi-
ca Quinn, noting uptown is a
vibrant area that benefits as the
central business district expands
outward. “A lot of the tenants
have been in the building for
a very long time,” said Quinn,
who interviewed each of the
building’s 14 tenants and found
they love the area and proximity
to the Capitol and downtown.
Colorado Legal Services occu-
pies approximately 50 percent of
the building.
The acquisition represents
Hayman Properties’ first pur-
chase in the Denver market. The
company typically buys proper-
ties in the $10 million to $20 mil-
lion range where it sees oppor-
tunity to add value.
“Our owner, Robert Hay-
man, has a great vision for what
properties could and should
be,” Quinn said. “A lot of what
you’re missing in a typical
building is life, character, some-
thing that feels clean and com-
fortable,” she said, adding that
“lifestyle” component is a focus
for the company.
Denver Tower was built as an
apartment building, and one of
its attributes is that it has balco-
nies on one side. With 5,000-sf
floor plates, it also has abundant
natural light.
Built in 1975, the building was
renovated in 2007. In addition to
structured parking, it has easy
access to public transportation
on Broadway, Lincoln Street and
Colfax Avenue, as well as the
20th and Welton light-rail sta-
tion, which is two blocks away.
Hayman Properties plans to
upgrade the building with the
expectation of increasing value
and lease rates. There will be
system upgrades, a new eleva-
tor and renovated restrooms on
every floor. The new owner is
working with tenant Iconergy
to maximize energy efficiencies,
which will include LED lighting
in the tenant spaces. It also is
looking at entryway improve-
ments.
Quinn said Hayman Proper-
ties currently owns properties in
Southern California, Texas and
Salt Lake City, and made a stra-
tegic decision to start expanding
into additional markets includ-
ing Denver.
“We have had a lot of success
in the Salt Lake market, which
has been a similar market in
terms of tech growth, startup
growth and attracting the mil-
lennial generation,” she said. “I
think it’s exciting growth when
you are bringing in people who
are starting businesses and
growing businesses,” she said,
adding Denver also is better
positioned than some markets to
weather economic downturns.
“We definitely follow larger
economic trends in terms of
going into markets that are
stronger and we feel are going
to maintain a higher level of
growth,” she said. “We are con-
tinuing to pursue office build-
ings as well as multifamily
buildings.”
Stream Realty Partners is the
property manager at Denver
Tower.
s
LA
